shankland



No. 6I5,503. Patented Dec. 6, |898. E..C. SHANKLAND.

SAFE 0R VAULT.

(Application led Nov. 30, 1897.)

' 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

Patentedec. 6, |898. E. C. SHANKLAND.

SAFE on vAuLT.

(Application led Nov. 80, 1897,)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model //////////////W///l///// \j\\\\ w www UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDVARD C. SIIANKLAND, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AVSSIGNOR TO D. H. BURNHAM t CO., OF SAME PLACE.

SAFE OR VAU LT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 615,503, dated December 6, 1898. Application filed November 30, 1897. Serial No. 660,273. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. SHANKLAND, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Vault Construction, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention, the subject-matter of which was originally a part of an application on safety-deposit vaults led by me July 16, 1897, Serial No. 644,852, patented January 18, 1898, No. 597,694, has relation to improvements analogous to those disclosed in the remaining portion of the application referred to.

The primary object is to prevent or retard entrance by criminals into safetydeposit vaults through the instrumentality of an electric arc. The destructive action of this means of attack is of comparatively recent development and requires lradical improvements for its successful resistance.

In the application before mentioned I have already explained somewhat at length the conditions and difficulties referred to, together with one form of construction which to me seemed well adapted to meet the present requirements of the art.

By my present invention I aim to secure as good or better results than those obtained from the prior construction referred to by means of still further improvements.

In conjunction with my present construction (although as to this other forms of construction could be used, if desired, without departing from the spirit of this invention)v I preferably employ the invention of the application mentioned, building up the framework of the vault out of a plurality of Wall ror pieces of metal sodisposed as to be entirely filling-pieces of metal being thus insulated renders it necessary in order to burn them by the electriccurrent that a hole leading into them should be made sufficiently large to accommodate not only the destroying-tool., but also a ground or return wire, (which is scarcely practical in View of the intensity of the heat of the arc,) or else that two holes should be made leading into the same rod or piece of filling material, one of which can be used for a ground-wire and the other for the insertion of the device employed to form the arc.

The exact location and arrangement of the inserts or rods it is of course impossible to determine from the outside, especially if they be of varying length and shape. Hence in making a second hole there is much greater chance that some other rod will be encountered rather than the one first struck, which of course necessitates still another hole, and so on until the proper broken piece or section of rod is found.

A further object of myinvention is to secure a more efficient protection for the door and the lock, the latter being recognized as one of the most vulnerable points in safe construction. To attain this end, I provide in the center of the door a space or inclosing chamber, which I fill with some material of high electrical resistance and in which, as in the construction of the walls, I embed a number of brokenrods or pieces of metal so disposed as to be thoroughly insulated.

In the practice of my invention it is preferable to use some form of concrete as a iilling material and to embed therein short or broken pieces of steel rods arranged in a double row or layer and in staggered position relative to each other, for by such means the maximum degree of efficiency is secured.

I will now proceed to describe vmy invention in connection lwith the accompanying drawings, in Which-- Figure 1 is a horizontal section through the corner of a safety-deposit vault built in accordance with my invention. l Fig. 2 is a ver tical section through an upper corner of the vault. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing a portion of one corner with the door in place, and Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating the preferred roo ' ner layer of rails and concrete 6 and that between a plate 7 and the flanges 8 of the rails of the layer 5 is an inclosing space filled with a concrete layer 9. In this concrete layer is embedded a plurality of broken or short rods IO, of steel, arranged with their ends separated and also separated from the metal walls of the inclosing space and from each other by the concrete filling. If an attempt be made to` penetrate this protection by means of an electric arc, it is obvious that before any one of the filling-pieces or short rods can be fused or burned the electrical circuit must be in some manner completed through it by means of a ground or return wire. If by burning and chipping a hole be made from the outside into one of the outer ones of the insulated rods, as at 1l, serious difficulty will be encountered in proceeding further, because the rod being of metal or steel of great hardness it cannot be easily attacked by means of tools or drills, and the electric arc has no effect upon it until it can be connected in some manner with a ground or return wire. Unless the hole rst made were excessively large it would be of course impossible to secure such ground or return for the current through the same opening. Hence to get such attachment before further progress can be made a second hole would have to be made, and if this failed (as the chances are' it would) to reach the same rod as was encountered in making the first hole, as at 12, still others would be necessary until a means for returning the current is secured and the ground-wire attached through it. All this ofcourse represents additional delay, with embarrassment on thepart of the criminal, and increases by so much the probability of his burg'larious attempt being frustrated.

Referring now to Fig. 3, attention is called to the method I have shown for securing protection of the door 13 and the lock 14. In the door is formed the inclosing space l5, in which is placed an interfilling material of high electrical resistance, 16, having embedded therein a number of the broken rods or pieces 10 before referred to. By placing the lock immediately back of the center of the door, as shown, and providing in front of it the large chamber in the door, protected as described, I make it a matter of extreme difficulty to reach the lock from the outside, and so hinder any attempted entrance through this place.

While I have especially described the use of concrete or a similar material with'the rods or inserts embedded therein as a means of insulating said inserts, still it is obvious that they could be insulated in other ways, if preferred, and without the use of any filling material.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A wall for vaults, safes, dto., comprising a supportingstructure or frame, tool-resisting metallic insert-s sections or pieces of varying dimensions and insulating material whereby said inserts sections or pieces are held so as to be electrically insulated from said frame and from each other, substantially as described.

2. A wall for vaults, safes, &c., comprising a supporting structure or frame containing tool resisting metallic inserts sections' or pieces embedded in concrete, and so disposed as to be electrically insulated from said frame and from each other, substantially as described.

3. A wall for vaults, safes, dac., comprising a supporting structure or frame containing toolresisting metallic inserts sections or pieces of varying dimensions embedded in a material of high electrical resistance, and so disposed as to be electrically insulated from said frame and from each other, substantially as described.

4. A wall for vaults, safes, &c., comprising two layers of rails in combination with a plurality of insulated metallic inserts sections or pieces, substantially as described.

5. A wall for vaults, safes, &c., comprising a plurality of layers composed of rails in cornbination with a plurality of insulated metallic inserts sections or pieces between said layers, substantially as described.

6. A wall for vaults, safes, &c. comprising a plurality of layers composed of rails embedded in concrete in combination with insulated metallic inserts sections or pieces, substantially as described.

7. A wall for vaults,'safes, &c., comprising a plurality of layers composed of rails, the rails of adjacent layers crossing each other, embedded in concrete in combination with insulated metallic inserts sections or pieces, substantially as described.

8. A wall for vaults, safes, &c., comprising a plurality of layers composed of rails, the rails of adjacent layers crossing each other, in combination with insulated metallic inserts sections or pieces, substantially as described. p

9. In safety-.vault construction the combination with a door and a lock located inside of the center of said door, of an inclosing space in the door in front of said lock, an interiilling material of high electrical resist; ance in saidinclosing space, and a plurality of broken pieces of tool-resisting metal em; bedded in said intertilling material, and so arranged asI to be electrically insulated not only from the surrounding metal of the in= closing space, but also from each other, sub= stantially as described.

10. In safety-vault construction the combi nation with a door and a lock located inside of the center of said door, of an inclosing space in the door in front of said lock, an in- IOO IIO

a supporting structure or frame, tool-resisting metallic rods of varying dimensions, and ro insulating material whereby said rods are held so as to be electrically insulated from said frame and from each other, substantially as described.

EDWARD C. SHANKLAND. Witnesses:

HEsTER B. BAIRD, PAUL SYNNESTVEDT. 

